Step 1: Understand the access and early intervention requirements
Access requirements
It is important to understand the NDIS eligibility requirements before supporting your patient to access the NDIS.
Eligibility requirements include:
Evidence of disability requirements
You may need to support your patient by providing the following evidence to meet the disability requirements:
- their disability is caused by one or more impairments
- their impairment is likely to be permanent
- their permanent impairment substantially reduces their functional capacity
- their impairment affects their social and economic participation
- they will likely need NDIS support for their lifetime.
We need supporting evidence for each of the disability requirements so we can assess whether they meet our legislative requirements.
As your patient’s treating healthcare professional, you will need to understand which of these requirements you can support your patient with. This includes providing evidence of their disability and, if relevant, medical conditions.
Medical conditions
Some medical conditions may result in disability. The impairments related to chronic health conditions will be considered in the same way as impairments that are not related to chronic health conditions.
The disability requirements are likely to be met if the impairments are permanent, cause substantially reduced functional capacity and they supports they need for their lifetime are NDIS supports.
NDIS supports need to meet the NDIS reasonable and necessary criteria to be funded as an NDIS support.
A full list of medical conditions and their likelihood of meeting the NDIS disability requirements can be found in the appendix section of the Applying to the NDIS guideline.
Tip: Condition lists are a guide only.
The list of conditions outlined in the Our Guidelines are a guide only. We will still consider the evidence you provide to make sure it meets the NDIS rules.
Early intervention requirements
If your patient has a permanent impairment that doesn’t meet the disability requirements, they may be eligible for NDIS early intervention supports.
If your patient has met the disability requirements, they may also meet the early intervention requirements if the evidence supports this.
Early intervention support helps lessen the impact of your patients’ permanent impairment on their functional capacity as early as possible. It also helps your patient by reducing their need for disability specific support in the future.
It is important to understand how these patients, including children younger than 9, may meet the NDIS early intervention requirements. This is included in the NDIS early childhood approach.
Step 3: Complete the 6-point checklist
We have made a 6-point checklist to help assess your patient’s eligibility for the NDIS.
Download the eligibility checklist:
- NDIS eligibility checklist - PDF 133.04 KB
- NDIS eligibility checklist - DOCX 61.79 KB
Step 4: Help your patient connect with the NDIS
You should support your patient to contact us by:
Calling us
Calling us on 1300 311 675.
Using our service hub
Submitting an enquiry through our service hub .
Visiting a local office
Finding an office in their local area.
We will help them learn about and apply to the NDIS.
If they choose to apply, you can support them with evidence for their application.
Learn more about how to support your patient to access the NDIS.